The Way We Were
by Shuggie
Summary: It’s been a few years since Captain America led the team that freed Auschwitz. Erik and Magda, living in an orphanage until they are old enough to get away, talk about their futures.


OK, so even though I have two exams and two long papers due tomorrow morning, I couldn't concentrate. So I wrote this. I've gotten myself into X-Men again, and there are never any stories that feature Magda around. If I'm not going to be doing my school work, I ought to be working on my HP fic, but alas, writer's block.

In this story, I'm going to assume Magneto was around 9 to 10 years old when he was in the camps, as per what Rebirth shows in Logan's flashback. So that makes Magneto about 13ish in this story. Magda is a year or so younger. And since I'm using the Evolution universe, I will also be ignoring a few historical facts. Fact 1: Auschwitz II was actually liberated by the Soviet army rather than the Americans and lone Canadian. Fact 2: All children under the age of 15 were immediately sent to the gas chambers upon arrival at Auschwitz. Magneto wouldn't have been alive for Captain America and Wolverine to rescue him.

Now that your history lesson is over, please enjoy. Apologies for any spelling/grammatical errors.

* * *

The sky was clearer than it had been for some weeks, only the occasional cloud lazily floating through the wild blue yonder. It was finally warm enough to go swimming, if one was so inclined. The orphanage was located on the edge of town, right by the forest. The yard that separated the two was carefully manicured, and only the quickest of wildflowers had the chance to grow outside of the gardens. The grass was a bit itchy, but it was cool to the touch. At that moment, Erik Lensherr couldn't have imagined a better place to be.

He lay sprawled out in the grass, his unusual white hair falling back from his eyes. One hand pulled absently at the cool blades of grass, and the other was intertwined with Magda's. She had her head resting on his stomach, her hair fanning out in a dark pool. "Look at that cloud, Erik," she said, a small finger extended towards the sky. "It looks like a cat."

"I see it," Erik replied, squinting his eyes just a bit against the sun's warm rays. "I don't really like cats."

Magda laughed. "And what would you do if I wanted one?"

Erik craned his neck to look at her. "You wouldn't," he said. "You're allergic to them."

Magda gave his words no consideration. "But if I wanted one?"

Erik shrugged. "I'd buy you three," he assured her. She laughed again, and Erik smiled. He loved it when she laughed. Magda laughed from her very soul, something Erik hadn't ever been able to do. She was far more the carefree of the two, and Erik was glad for that. She had been through so much. It was good that she could laugh. She said that he deserved it too. They had been through the same things.

The thought alone prompted Erik's gaze to fall on his forearm. He lifted it, but Magda, intuitive as she was, reached over and took his arm, holding it to her in such a way that the numbers could not be seen. "Today is a beautiful day," she said casually, and Erik knew that he was not to concern himself with the past today. She wouldn't stand for it. Magda was far less of a pushover than the others at the orphanage ever gave her credit for. Erik certainly wouldn't have ever stood against her.

It had been three years since Captain America had led a team of soldiers to liberate the Auschwitz concentration camp where Erik and Magda had both been prisoners. It was where they had met, and so Erik could attribute only one good thing to the despicable place. With the families of both children dead or unaccounted for, they had been placed in an orphanage in Germany. They would remain there until Erik, the older of the two, came of age.

"Erik," Magda asked as she flipped to lie on her stomach, her chin still resting on his chest. "What do you think life will be like when we leave this place?"

Erik rested his arm around her shoulders. "We're going to live on a farm out in the country," he said. "We'll have a house with four bedrooms and a big kitchen. There will be a red barn with horses, cows, pigs and chickens."

"Will we just have animals, then," she asked.

"No," Erik responded. "I'll have a tractor so that we can harvest cereals. We'll have a small vegetable garden by the house where you can grow herbs. It will be right by the porch so you don't have to walk far."

Magda sighed. "Why so many bedrooms," she asked. "It is too big for only you and me."

"Those will be for the children," Erik said simply.

Magda giggled. She scooted up so that her head rested on Erik's shoulder, and he wrapped her in a tight hug. "How many children will we have?"

"Five," he said.

"So many," Magda cried in delight. "Do you want more girls or boys?"

"The first two will be a girl then a boy," Erik said. "Then after a few years we will have two more boys and then finally another girl."

"Why that order," Magda wondered.

"We have to have a girl first so that she can help you take care of the house and with the other children," Erik said. "The first boy will only be about a year younger than her. He will grow big and help me on the farm. He will also have to protect all of the other children if I'm not there."

"And where would you be," Magda asked, lifting her head to look at him.

"In town for the weekend to sell our grains," Erik said.

Magda smiled and rested her head again. "And the other children?"

"The other two boys, I think, will be five years younger. They will be playful and get into trouble all the time."

"I think they will be good boys," Magda defended.

"That's just because they will love their mother and never show her their bad side," Erik explained.

"So they are sneaky," Magda said. "I'll have to watch out for them." Erik chuckled. "And the littlest one?"

"She will be everyone's favorite," Erik said. "All the children will help to raise her so that she will be good like all of them. She will be beautiful as her mother—"

"Strong like her papa," Magda added.

Erik smiled. "She will play and go to schools and be a little lady. She'll make us all very happy."

"Will the other children be jealous of her," Magda asked.

"No," Erik said. "They will love her too much, and she will be too sweet to be arrogant."

"I like her already," Magda said. "I like them all."

Erik smiled. They would have a perfect life. They deserved it after everything they had gone through. They had survived the camps against all odds. They had stayed together after the rescue. If that wasn't fate, Erik didn't know what was. His mother had always told him to have faith for the best. God would see him through if he just believed it. Erik hadn't wanted to believe anymore after she was killed and he was sent to the camps. He'd been ready to give up when Magda arrived with the other Roma. She was Catholic, but Erik knew his mother would have loved her.

Magda was the only person Erik ever saw smile in the camps. She wasn't happy, but she was hopeful, and she wanted the others to be hopeful too. Her smile had kept him alive.

Erik handed Magda a tiny white flower. She took it with delight, twirling the stem between her fingers to make the petals become a tiny little blur. "I heard Mother Hannah talking to you yesterday," she said. Erik made a small noise of acknowledgement. "It was about the special school. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not important," Erik said.

"Oh, yes, it is," Magda said, poking him lightly in the ribs, giggling as he fought to hold in a laugh. "Why didn't you say yes?"

"I should think the answer is obvious," Erik said, tugging at the grass. "I'm not going to leave you here."

"You could always come back," Magda said. "You could go learn all about science and then come when you're a man."

Erik fixed her with a pointed stare. "And if someone came in tomorrow to adopt you, would you go with them?"

Magda smiled. "You're right," she said. "I wouldn't. I wouldn't go anywhere you weren't."

"Neither will I," Erik promised. "Besides, I don't need science if we're going to live on a farm."

"That's true," Magda admitted. "It wouldn't do very much good. Except, you could impress the children with experiments. I'm sure they would love that."

"I'll read some books, then," Erik said. "No need for a special school."

Magda suddenly pouted. "How much longer until you turn eighteen?"

Erik couldn't help but laugh. "Still five years," he said. "You know that."

"You should hurry up and grow faster," Magda said.

"I've never heard of a girl who wanted to get married so badly," Erik said, his eyes shining with amusement. "Or is it that you're just using me to get out of the orphanage early?"

Magda looked genuinely shocked at his accusation. "What," she cried, sitting up. "Erik, I would never—"

"I was only joking, Magda," Erik laughed. "Don't be so serious." He reached up and brought her back to him in a tight hug. She playfully resisted for a few seconds before cuddling closer to him. "We'll be gone from here before you know it."

"I'm glad," she said. "I don't like sitting still all the time. And they never let us into the forest."

"Someone saw a wolf," Erik said. "They just don't want anyone hurt. Besides, the farm isn't going to move. You'll have to sit there too. We aren't packing up and roaming around in colorful wagons."

She stuck her tongue out at him, withdrawing it quickly when Erik made a move to grab it. "I won't sit," Magda argued. "I'll have all of our land to run around on. I can ride the horses too. I'll have a special one all for myself."

"What color," he asked.

"She'll be as white as your hair," Magda answered, reaching up to ruffle his hair out of place. Erik frowned as he tried to smooth it back down. "So dignified in the grass," she laughed, and she kissed his cheek. Erik blushed. It made her smile grow, and she kissed his lips.

"Ew," Erik cried, sitting up and wiping his mouth. "Don't do that, Magda."

Magda was laughing so hard that she held on tightly to her sides. She managed to control herself long enough to ask, "If you won't let me kiss you, then how will we have five children?"

"You don't make children from kisses," Erik grumbled, blushing a deep red at the thought of how children were made. Special hug, his teacher had called it.

"Mommies and daddies kiss and you know it," Magda chortled in glee.

"When they're mommies and daddies," Erik retorted. "We aren't big enough yet."

Magda sat up, and Erik almost smiled at all the grass in her hair from her rolling around. "I saw Helga kiss Anthony two days ago," she said. "And Anthony is younger than you."

"I'll bet he spit off her kiss too," Erik said, grinning when Magda remained silent. "See, kisses are gross."

"They are not," Magda snapped. "They're romantic."

"That's just for girls," Erik said.

"No, boys can be romantic," Magda said. "Princes in fairy tales are very romantic."

"But I'm not a prince," Erik said.

Magda huffed. "You're my prince," she said. "So I deserve a kiss."

"No."

"Do it."

"No."

"I won't leave you alone," Magda threatened playfully.

"I'll run away. I'm faster than you," Erik said simply. And he was forced to jump up when Magda lunged for him. He scrambled away with her hot on his heels. They shrieked and yelled at each other, laughing at each time Magda nearly caught up to Erik. The administrator and nuns looked out the windows at the commotion, smiling as they watched the two children run up and down the yard.

Erik suddenly stopped short, turning and grabbing Magda in hug. He held her up tightly and spun around to keep them from falling, her little feet flying in the air. He put her down and pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. When he pulled away, Magda was smiling more radiantly than he had ever seen her.

"I thought kisses were gross," she said.

"They are," Erik replied. But she wasn't.

Magda wrapped her arms around his waist in a firm hug. "I love you, Erik."

Erik returned her hug and rested his cheek against her head. He drew in a deep breath. She smelled like the grass and flowers. "I love you too. Forever and ever."

* * *

Aww. I was going to stick in a short scene of angst!Magneto all grown up in the end there, but I didn't want to kill the happy mood. Hope y'all liked. Please review.


End file.
